


I don't believe you. You aren't like THAT

by Lwoorl



Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU
Genre: Coming Out, Gen, Homophobia, Internalized Homophobia, Self indulgent piece of garbage, angst if you squint, vent fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-03
Updated: 2018-08-23
Packaged: 2019-06-21 03:34:00
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,354
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15548679
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lwoorl/pseuds/Lwoorl
Summary: Dick tells Damian he's gay. His brother doesn't take it well.





	1. Kids be like that (It still is gonna hurt like hell)

**Author's Note:**

> Full disclosure, this is a vent fic, so don't expect quality from this self indulgent piece of garbage.  
> Also I actually headcanon Dick as bisexual instead of gay, but self indulgence dethrones characterization. And plot. And quality in general. Srly don't expect a masterpiece.

“You know that's for girls and gays, right?” Damian says, pointing at Dick's painted toes.

Dick's been staying on the manor for three days now, helping Bruce with a case. He's going back to Bludhaven tomorrow and decided to take advantage of the little time he has left to drag Damian into a movie marathon on the manor’s living room after patrol.

He also tried to get Bruce to join, but the old man fled to the cave. Dick doesn't mind, he hasn't been able to properly spend time with just Damian lately.

So far it has been great, he got Damian to watch two Disney films and two Pixar ones, and even though he constantly complained about they being childish or stupid, it was easy to see he was enjoying it at least a little, or, easy to see for anyone who has spend as much time with the kid as Dick has.

They were about to start UP when Dick took off his shoes in order to be more comfortable, exposing his feet, and hence his nails, decorated with blue nail polish, which is what led to the current situation.

“Excuse me, but the fact I'm gay isn't related to me taking good care of my nails.” Dick replies, not thinking much of it. He's about to put on the movie when he looks at Damian and sees his expression.

Damian has his eyes open like plates, looking extremely surprised, his mouth is even a little open. It's odd seeing his little brother letting his face show that much reaction to something and Dick wonders what's wrong when Damian says.

“You're what?!”

Oh

Oh, right. He hasn't told him yet.

It has been so long since he came out to his family and friends he doesn't even think about telling people anymore, it's just a fact of his life: The sky is blue, water is wet, and Dick Grayson is really fucking gay. But Damian wasn't part of the family when he told everyone, so of course he didn't know.

Huh. Dick's actually a little bit surprised it hasn't been address yet.

“I'm gay. I thought you knew?” Dick says, raising an eyebrow. “It's not a secret or anything, didn't anyone tell you?”

Damian takes a couple of second to look at him with his jaw hanging before schooling his face again into a blank expression and shakes his head.

“No one mentioned it.” His brother says.

“Well, now you know.” Dick shrugs.

Dick waits for Damian to answer 'Oh, ok’ or 'Noted.' so he can finally start the movie, but instead he just looks at him as if studying a crime scene, and the intensity of his gaze starts to make Dick a little nervous.

“So… You like boys instead of girls?” He finally says. Dick sighs and puts the remote control on the coffee table next to the sofa, realizing he's going to have to give Damian The Talk™.

“Yes, Damian. That's pretty much what it means.” He answers, conjuring all the patience he has so he can endure the conversation that's about to come.

He has always hated when sharing his sexuality leads to having to explain that yes, Bruce, I'm sure I'm gay. Yes, Tim, I've kissed boys before. No, random acquittance, I'm not going to start flirting with you.

But then again, at least Damian is a literal _kid._ It's not the same as when he's had to explain the basics of sexuality 101 to people who should already know this, Damian is still a kid and it's understandable he doesn't know that much about this.

Actually, Dick reasons, he's lucky he got to explain this to Damian before the boy gets older.

“So you would have se-” He interrupts himself, biting his lips and frowning “So, you would have a boyfriend?... You would... Marry a man?” Damian asks, slowly, like he's barely able to process the words as he says them.

Dick bites down a sigh and instead plasters a smile on his face.

“That's right. _If_ I ever marry, it would be to a man. And right now I'm single, but I've dated some guys before, so...”

Damian seems taken aback by that, his face doesn't go even near to the levels of surprise of the face he made when Dick first said he's gay, but he can notice it in the way his brother clenches his jaw and his hands twitch.

“You… Dated guys?” He says, and Dick thinks it's probably meant to be an affirmation, but it comes out as a question.

“I think you met one of my exes once, actually, remember Wally?”

“West is gay?!” Damian immediately exclaims, in a way that sounds more offended than surprised, as if he just was told Wally murdered someone. (Wait, would Damian find Wally murdering someone something to be offended about?) Almost like he's _repulsed_ and Dick frowns.

“He's bi.” Dick immediately says. He tries to make it sound nonchalant but it comes out a little like he's scolding his brother. Which, ok, he kind of wants to “ _I_ am gay.”

Damian’s shoulders jump a little at Dick's tone and he diverts his eyes, probably catching on his older brother's exasperation at this point.

Dick takes a deep breath and tries to calm down.

‘ _Damian's still a kid, it's stupid to get mad at him, it's not his fault he doesn't know these stuff.’_ he tells himself.

“So, now that it's cleared out, how about we put on the movie?” He says, trying to sound cheerful as he tousles his baby brother's hair.

Damian doesn't swap his hand off, but he does look at him with an unreadable look on his eyes and Dick's starting to feel nervous again, which is ridiculous, this is Damian, his baby brother, the kid would never hate him!

 

“I don't believe you.” Damian finally states, biting his lower lip, his eyes showing what Dick can only interpret as anger.

“Excuse me, what?!” Is all Dick can say, as he looks at his baby brother like Damian just grew a second head.

“I don't believe you. Are you deaf?” Damian repeats, frowning even further.

Dick looks at him in astonishment for a moment, and then “You don't believe I'm gay?” Dick asks again, because, he probably understood it wrong, right? Maybe Damian just doesn't believe he dated Wally, or something, right? But Damian just nods while crossing his arms in front of his chest.

“That's exactly what I said, Grayson. I don't believe you're gay.”

 

What. The fuck

 

Dick has no idea how to answer that. This isn't the first time someone reacts negatively after telling them he's gay, he's gotten any kind of bad reactions, from people slowly walking away from him, to insults, to idiots who think they can actually beat him up (And who usually end beaten up themselves) but, just... What's he supposed to say to someone who just accuses him of lying? How do you even answer to that?

“Damian. I _am_ gay.” He says again, his tone serious. Damian just looks at him and shakes his head again.

“Dami, why the hell would I lie about being gay?” Dick tries to reason.

“I don't know. It must be a test or something, or one of your extrange moral lessons.” He says and Dick can't fucking believe him.

“Damian, I mean it. _I'm gay._ Just ask anyone.”

“No, you aren't!” His brother says again, firmer this time.

Dick wants to keep arguing, but he doesn't want this to devolves into a 'Yes. No. Yes. No’ argument, so he closes his eyes and mentally counts to ten.

“Why… Do you think I couldn't be gay?” He asks carefully. If he knows why Damian doesn't believe him it will be  easier to get to the root of the problem.

“Because, you aren't!”

“Ok, but why do you think I'm not?”

“Because you. You know, you aren't _like that!”_ He says, and the sneer he has when he utters the last words makes Dick feel like he's been slapped.

“Like what?”

“Like…” Damian starts, and then deinflates. The frown remains but he isn't raising his voice anymore. “Weak. And… And gross- Just. _Wrong_ . You aren't _bad_ ”

Dick's shoulders slumps. Oh. So _that's_ the problem. Ok. He can deal with this, or so he tells himself again.

“Dami…” Dick begins, but his brother cuts him off, suddenly standing and shaking his head.

“No. I'm done with your lies! I'm going to my room.” He says, and before Dick can react he's gone.

 

Dick stays there, sitting on the sofa looking at the space his brother used to occupy mere moments ago. He feels like someone took his heart and threw it to the crusher.

‘ _Kids are like that, it will pass. Damian has told you worse insults, he never means it. It will pass.’_ He thinks, but it doesn't hurt any less.

He spends the night thinking of following his brother, to clear things up. He just wants the kid to understand it's true, even if he hates him after. (He doesn't want him to hate him. He isn't sure if he could go on if his baby brother really comes to hate him over something like that.)

At the end he doesn't go after Damian. He leaves the next morning without saying goodbye to anyone, not even Alfred, and when he gets back to his apartment on Bludhaven Dick immediately falls on his bed.


	2. Good People & Dirty Stuff

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had planned this chapter to be half Damian's POV and half Dick's but the Damian part turned out to be quite long, so I'm turning this into a 3 chapters thing because I don't want the chapters' length to vary wildly.

Damian wakes up the next morning in his room, not even remembering when he fell asleep. He very deliberately does _not_ think of last night, with Grayson and his stupid lies and mental games, and goes to get breakfast.

When he gets to the table he's surprised to discover his brother isn't around. After he finishes half of his pancake he asks his father in the most nonchalant way possible.

“Where's Grayson?”

Father barely looks up from his plate before answering “Dick left this morning.”

“Oh.”

Damian goes back to concentrating on his food. It's weird for Grayson not to say goodbye before leaving Gotham; Not totally unheard of, but quite odd when there isn't any emergency or immediate threat.

Damian catches his father raising one eyebrow, a subtle way to ask if anything happened last night. He just keeps eating in silence because absolutely _nothing_ happened last night. _Really._

He spends the day trying not to think about _that_ , but it's bothering him. Something about the way Grayson’s face fell when he told him why he didn't believe his ruse, combined with the fact if it's a test, he should have been told he failed by now, and even for Grayson he wouldn't expect him to take it so far if it was a prank, or even a stupid moral lesson.

By the end of patrol he's starting to have his doubts about the situation so he decides to ask his father.

“Father.” He says, once they're settled at the cave.

“Yes, Damian?” His father says, barely lifting his eyes from the batcomputer.

“Is it true Grayson…” He stops and thinks about it. If it's true (And he's still sure it isn't!) And as Grayson said, everyone already knows this information, he doesn't want to look ignorant about common knowledge, so it would be beneficial to ask something related while not the same.

Also…. Somehow he just doesn't feel comfortable asking directly 'Is it true Grayson likes men’

“Is it true Grayson and West used to date? West as in Wally West.” He ends asking instead.

His father doesn't see surprised in the sightless by the question and while looking back at the screen says “Yes. Why are you asking?”

“I just didn't think-...”

Damian's about to answer something similar to yesterday, but then stops as he remembers Grayson's scolding when he criticized West, or his face at the end of the conversation, and decides it probably wouldn't be wise to express his opinions on the topic to his father too, and it's not like he wants the man to realize what happened yesterday with Grayson anyway.

“-...That Grayson had such a bad taste.”

His father seems to notice the delay on his answer but doesn't comment on it. Instead he just nods and says. “He does have a bad taste.” Before going back to working on whatever he was before Damian asked.

Damian goes back to his room and for the first time in the day allows himself to _think_ about yesterday.

It clearly isn't a joke, as it would mean his father is involved, and he can't imagine Batman partaking into one of his brother's stupid jokes, not only that but it wouldn't explain the face he made, the way he looked… Hurt. So. It's not a prank.

Grayson isn't the kind of person who would test him, either, he's the one who told him he didn't have anything to prove! That he was worth of being Robin! So it would be weird for it to be that. If it's his father who wants to test him though, that could be more plausible, but he also has a hard time imagining Grayson going along with that, he might follow Batman's orders to the point of lying to his family (lying to _Damian)_ like that time he pretended to be dead, but he isn't one to do so willingly when it's a family issue. If anything Grayson would oppose to his father feeling it's necessary to test him, Grayson's always tried to convince the family that they should trust Damian more.

If it's meant to teach him a lesson, it's really not Grayson's style. It's Father’s for sure, but Damian has a hard time imagining Grayson getting so involved into that, and it wouldn't last that long anyway.

So. Maybe it was true.

 

He

 

Still can't actually believe that.

 

The next day, when Pennywort is transporting him to school, Damian makes a decision and asks the old butter.

“Is it true Grayson likes… That he prefers men?”

The man can be infuriatingly cryptic a lot of the time, but he's perceptive, and usually honest. So Damian supposes it's not that bad of an idea to ask him.

“Ah, yes. It's a well known fact. I believe almost everyone in the family is aware of master Dick's preferences.” The old man answers.

Damian bites the inside of his cheek. His first instinct is to just deny the information, but now that he's had time to think about it and the testimonies keep piling up it's becoming harder to do so.

“Is everyone ok with _that_?” He mutters before he can stop himself.

Pennyworth doesn't even twitches and answers “I believe they are. As far as I’m aware most members of the family are not judgemental about master Dick's romantic nor sexual life… Are you ok with _that_ , master Damian?”

Damian doesn't answer the question, instead he just looks anywhere but at the buttler and the rest of the traject to school proceeds silently.

 

Damian is able to shove that topic deep into the back of his head not long after that.

Ok. So maybe Grayson is… Gay. Maybe as in quite probably given the evidence and the fact the more time it passes without someone saying it's a lie, the more likely it is that it isn't.

But. He doesn't need to think about that.

He was fine before knowing about that part of his brother’s life, he will be fine just ignoring it again.

 

He doesn't even think about it for a week, until one day he takes Titus for a walk on a nearby park and sees two men holding hands.

His first reaction is to scoff and walk away, but then he suddenly hears his brother's disappointed voice and sees his pained face in his mind and he frezees.

He tries to ignore them but every so often he can't stop himself from gazing at them. They aren't even doing anything indecent, just holding hands, linking arms, standing a little too close to each other, hugging, and once sharing a quick peek on the cheek. He has seen _normal_ couples doing worse things without blinking, and yet this makes his stomach chench.

Huh. ‘Normal couples’, right?

Yeah, that's the problem.

 

He ends leaving early and goes back to the manor, walking directly into his room. He puts on his headphones and starts listening to his MP3 while Alfred the cat curls besides him.

 

He thinks about the men at the park and about his brother, about the feeling in his stomach of watching something gross, a feeling that should only be reserved to the thiefs and murderers he fights but somehow got spilled into civilians, he thinks about Grayson's hurt face and the disappointed in his voice and the nonchalant acceptance of everyone else.

 

Grayson is single right now, or so he said. But he has dated before. If he ever dates someone else- If he ever dates another _man._ Is Damian going to feel the same way he did with the couple at the park?

Damian doesn't want that.

Grayson is the first person ever to take him in, he's strong and worthy of respect, the person who trained him when he became Robin _(The person who let Damian be Robin)_ who told him he was good enough, who looks at him gently and is proud of him without Damian even having to prove himself. He's good.

His mind goes back to the park. Those were people, he knows that, they would have looked _normal_ anywhere else, and yet he can't stop feeling like they're _something_ else. A second class _something._ Something weak, or evil, a shameful thing. A thing gross to be close to. He doesn't want to think of his brother, the first adult who has gained his trust, as if he was looking at a dirty thing, and yet Grayson said he should, and was sad Damian wouldn't.

He tries to remember who told him that, that being like _that_ was a bad, wicked thing, and grows frustrated when he realizes he can't put his finger on the specific moment he was teached this. He vaguely remembers some comments, books, movies, throwaway things, but not _who_ told him.

If he can't even remember who teached him this, why is he still following that teaching? He remembers who teached him to kill, he remembers his mother, the league, it gives it weight, and yet he was able to reject that one, even if it meant giving the back to his own mother and the place we grew up in. He can't even remember who he would reject if he stopped following this one, and yet the feeling in his chest and stomach persists whenever he thinks about it.

As if feeling his distress Alfred touches his arm with his head. Damian scratchs the cat's ear and he purrs next to him. It helps Damian to calm down.

 

He closes his eyes and thinks of the couple at the park, and then remplaces it with his brother, taking a nonspecific man's hand, but it makes him feel like he's doing something bad, like he's desecrating his image, somehow, so he remplaces the nonexistent man with West, and it makes it better, if only because Grayson gave him permission to imagine him with West.

He imagines them holding hands, and it isn't that bad, but maybe that's because Grayson himself is very touchy feely with everyone. So he imagines them hugging, and consciously thinks of it as a romantic hug, not the ones Grayson gives to everyone, and ignores the feeling he's doing something bad. Then he imagines kissing and suddenly he feels angry, _Richard Grayson would never-!_

Except-

Except he would. He has. And probably even more, Grayson said so himself. And he didn't say it like an insult, but somehow thinking it feels like one. And it shouldn't, or so Damian thinks.

He sighs and buries his face in the nearest pillow.

Whatever. He will think more about that later, for now he's going to take a nap.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm thinking on maybe changing this fic's title. Suggestions? I kinda suck at titles. I don't want anything too dramatic for a fucking little vent fic, I was thinking maybe something like "You're you even if you're dirty (You're not)" or "An insult isn't an insult if you don't use it like one" or "Kids be like that (It still hurts)" but I don't like those that much either. Ideas?


	3. It's not ok, but it will be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally finished this thing, cheers!

Dick isn't sure what he expects to find after getting back from work, probably his empty apartment and a warm cup of instant noodles, but it surely isn't what he finds.

As soon as he opens the door he feels the strong, distinct smell of food being made, at first he thinks it's either his stomach playing with his brain or the neighbors, making dinner, but soon he realizes that 1. It's real, not a trick of the mind and 2. It's coming from inside his apartment.

Dick goes to inspect his kitchen and finds himself mildly surprised with the sight of Damian looming over something on the stove, standing on a footstool so he could reach everything comfortably.

“Hey.” Dick greets his little brother, who almost dropped the wood spoon he was holding over the surprise, not having had heard Dick when he entered the room.

“Your semi-empty fridge is a disgrace, you should be grateful I'm not going to rat you to Pennyworth.” Is Damian's curt reply.

Dick walks towards the kid and peers over his shoulder, looking inside the pot. “Is that Alfred’s vegan curry?”

“Tt”

“Why are you here, baby bird?” Dick asks, not unkindly, while he passes his hand through Damian's hair. The kid grimaces but doesn't move to shove it away.

“There was a mission with the Teen Titans. A criminal we were looking for was in the zone, so we came here. I thought I should report it to you.”

That's bullshit and Dick knows it. Even if the story wasn't sketchy to begin with, his brother is actually pretty bad at lying to him. It has been a long time since last time something like this happened, but it's not too odd for Damian to show up suddenly into his city with no warning and a weak excuse from time to time. Dick knows better than to call him out on it.

“I will go set the table.” He says while walking away. Damian nods in acknowledgement and goes back to watch over the cooking pot.

Soon they find themselves sitting on the table, eating Damian's cooking.

Dick complements the food and asks Damian about school and the Teen Titans and ‘how's everything going with Bruce?’, Damian answers with short, strained sentences, barely giving any details. Dick can see something's bothering his baby brother, but doesn't pressures him to share it, he will tell him whenever he's ready, so Dick mostly tries to ignore it and enjoy the evening.

It has been 3 months since he came out to Damian, and he hasn't quite been able to have quality time with him since, they've seen each other a couple of times in costume, but this is the first time in a long while they can just hang out like this.

Damian hasn't said anything about that night's argument (He's calling it an argument) ever since, so he supposes he's just going to ignore it. It's not ideal, and it still hurts when he remembers his little brother's reaction, he still yearns for his brother to accept that fact of him, but Dick's also grateful it seems like it hasn't stained their relationship all that much; He has lost people because of being gay before, not many, and mostly unimportant, no more than acquaintances, but it has happened, and it still hurts, he can't even imagine what he would do if Damian starts avoiding him over something like that.

He still believes his brother is going to be ok with it eventually, if only because the rest of the family is, and it's not like Damian didn't have had to overcome a ton of other reprehensible viewpoints already, but he still worries, maybe it's because homophobia is not such an unpopular belief, or maybe it's because he has heard it before more than once, but it still makes him a little sick, so he's not going to touch the topic of his sexuality with a ten foot pole. At least not today.

(Dick hates it. It makes him feel like when he was much younger, barely starting to know that part of himself and hadn't told anyone yet. When he still worried what his family would think of it, if Bruce would kick him out, if his friends would think it was weird. When he was 14 and having nightmares about getting sent to conversion therapy. It's awful.)

Eventually the food is finished and Dick moves them to one of the living room's couches, giving Damian the remote so he can pick whatever he wants to watch and briefly disappearing into the kitchen to wash the dishes. When he comes back some minutes later he finds his brother playing a racing game on Dick's old PlayStation2.

Damian pauses it as Dick sits down next to him on the couch and wordlessly sets it for two players before passing him the other control. Dick thanks him as he picks a red car and they play a couple of rounds, with Damian complaining all the time about Dick deliberately going out of his way on the race to crash against him.

Eventually it devolves more into amused chatter than actually putting any effort into trying to play, with both on them ending on the last spots each time. At some point Dick's able to make Damian open a little, asking him about his pets and getting him to share a story about a pregnant cat he saw last week, excitedly talking about how fluffy and round she was, how he hopes she's having a healthy litter, but then not too long after Damian mentions a park he found where he's going to walk Titus lately, and suddenly the kid tenses and his answers go back to simple yes and nos.

Dick sighs, a bit curious about what's bothering him, but doesn't comment on his change of demeanor and they silently go back to playing well.

“Are you staying for patrol?” Dick asks looking towards the clock on the nearby wall. It's almost time to go out. “I can always use a pair of extra hands.”

Damian makes a show of thinking about it even though both of them know he's probably staying the night, before finally agreeing with a shrug.

After they finish one more round they get dressed and in no time they're jumping from building to building looking over the streets.

It's a peaceful night for Bludhaven standards, and they spend a good two hours stopping petty crimes. They just stopped some guys from stealing an electronics store and Dick's ready to move to the next part of the city when he notices his brother isn't next to him anymore.

He looks around, anxiety filling his stomach, but before he can actually worry he finds that Damian is standing 2 rooftops behind him, apparently having stopped moving some minutes ago.

“Robin?” Dick calls, getting closer.

When he reaches Damian and is about to put a hand on the boy's shoulder to ask what's wrong, the kid suddenly sits down.

“Dami, what's wrong?” He asks softly, crunching down in front of the kid, examining him in search of any injury. He's pretty sure his brother didn't get hurt today, he would have noticed, but it might be an injury he got before and is starting to hurt again.

“No names.” Damian scolds him and Dick smiles, if he has the energy to worry about that it's probably nothing serious.

He lets Damian take his time, sitting next to him on the dirty rooftop. The kid looks pointedly at anything but him, tapping his finger against one knee and biting the inside of his cheek before finally taking a deep breath and saying.

“I'm sorry, ok?”

That takes Dick by surprise “About what?”

“Tt” Damian looks at his own feet like he wants to burn a hole on them and elaborates “Before, I said I didn't believe you liked boys. I was wrong, sorry I accused you of lying.”

“Ah”

Dick finds himself suddenly not knowing what to say, he wasn't expecting to have this conversation today, but it doesn't seem to matter as Damian isn't over yet.

“I don't like it. I don't like you liking men, it's weird and feels bad.” He says, without any venom to it, as if it's just a fact and Dick feels a significant part of his heart shattering at those words.

“Yeah, I figured that much last time-” He begins to mumble, but Damian shakes violently his head and interrupts him.

“I'm not done!” He exclaims, loudly enough Dick has to look around to make sure they didn't call unwanted attention, but Damian doesn't seem to notice and just goes on.

“I'm not ok with that _now._ ” He says, softly, almost as a whisper, but putting a lot of intent into each word. “But I will. I- I will stop feeling like that, I will get over it, I promise.”

“Damian…” Dick says, making the kid finally look at him, but then Damian's face falls and he quickly averts his gaze again.

“I'm sorry, ok?” He says, speaking louder and gaining speed with each word “I know everyone’s ok with that and I should and I’m not but- But I will work on it, really! I'm not… I know it's bad to think it's bad, ok? I've been thinking a lot about it and-”

“Damian.”

“-And I know it shouldn't bother me who you date or who- who you have sex with, it's not like it's my business, but I can't stop feeling weird and- And you said I shouldn't, but I won't feel weird! I'm going to work on not feeling weird and-”

“Dami, shut up, you're hyperventilating.” Dick mutters as he gathers his baby brother on a big bone crushing hug.

Damian seems to realize then that he's freaking out and begins to control his breathing while Dick moves his hand up and down, working circles on his back.

“Thank you.” He muters into his brother's hair, but Damian immediately shakes his head at that, almost headbutting Dick on the process.

“Don't thank me! I just said I'm not ok with it!” the kid exclaims, sounding offended and Dick has to chuckle at that.

“Sorry, sorry, but it made me happy that you're gonna try, you know? So, thank you.” Dick replies biting down a laugh when Damian growls ins response.

“Don't thank me, idiot. I didn't do anything, I'm not even ok with it yet.”

“Mhmm…” Dick hums, getting away from Damian enough to look at the kid's face. “But you will be ok with it, right?” He asks and Damian nods, still avoiding his eyes.

“Then I’m taking that thank you back.” He says and Damian stiffens at that but Dick quickly adds “But you need to let me thank you again when you're fine with it, ok?”

Damian seems to relax at that, letting his face fall on Dick's chest. “That would be acceptable.” He mutters.

“Alright. Hurry up and work on it ok? I'm gonna buy you an ice cream when you're done.”

“Ok”

They remain like that for some moments until Damian finally pushes him away and stands up.

“This is ridiculous, Nightwing. Let's continue patrol.” Damian says, starting to walk towards the edge of the building, getting out his grappling hook. He tries to act like nothing just happened but even in the dark Dick can see the tips of his ears are bright red.

“Yes, sir!” Dick answers cheerfully and follows him. Surely they're going to talk more about this after getting out of the uniforms, but for now they probably should focus on patrol.

 

It's not completely alright, not really, but Dick finds that he believes his little brother, he believes it _will_ be ok. And really, that's enough for now. It's not ideal, but he will take it, and he can't wait for when he can take Damian for a thank you ice cream.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I decided I'm gonna let the title like this after all


End file.
